ok. I was able to figure out the shutdown but then it asked what other parimiter I wanted and I did not know what all those did. So one shuts down and one restarts and then isn't there one to shutdown in a certain amount of time.

I belive the command your looking for is "shutdown -r graceful" I hope that helps. :)

ok but what would be a use for that?

It allows the server to finish any processes before rebooting. If you type "shutdown -r now" the server stops what its doing and shuts down right away.

Not shutting down properly can have consequences.
Although I've never done this myself, I'm quite sure that if you don't shut down in the correct fashion, that it can cause issues on next boot up.

Can anyone confirm this?

Ronin, you are right. Not shutting the server down in a proper fashion can corrupt files on the hard drive. The only time I recommend pushing the power button or cycling the power on your remote reboot port. Is when the server is not responding to any other commands.

I didn't know you could actually corrupt files by not shutting down properly!
Thats an eye opener.

I've never had to do this, and I think i'd really hesitate to use the shut down button even if nothing was responding.
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easy vape

James72, the chances are slim. But it could happen. I just wouldn't make a habit of shutting your server down by the power button.

There is really no reason to shut a server down any way. You usally want servers to stay up 24/7.

I can think of a million reasons why you would need to shut down or restart a server. Kernel upgrades is just one of the many reasons you would want to restart the server. I could make a 10 page report for the many reasons why you would need to restart or shutdown the server. But you get the idea. :)